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Cheerio Peanut Butter Pumpkins

When General Mills put out the call for bloggers to create some cereal-based treats for Halloween I noticed Cheerios were on the list. CHEERIOS! The foundation of Kiddo’s nutrition. I’m in! These were so much fun to put together, and Kiddo is thrilled with them. The inside is based on an old favorite recipe, and the peanut butter candy coating is from a classic Betty Crocker recipe.

In a large microwave-safe bowl melt the butter in the microwave and carefully swirl it around to coat the bottom half or so of the bowl; add the marshmallows and microwave at 50% power till marshmallows are melted; stir in Cheerios

Grease up your hands or some disposable gloves with butter or oil spray and carefully (it’s hot!) shape Cheerio mixture into pumpkins, squeezing them pretty firmly so they don’t fall apart. Let them cool on wax or parchment paper while you mix the peanut butter coating

Put a two-quart saucepan over low heat and melt peanut butter chips, stirring constantly, until just barely melted and thoroughly smooth; remove from heat and stir in frosting and coloring. Have fun with the color! Add a little at a time till it looks just right to you (I put mine in the stand mixer to mix the color in; the mixture is pretty stiff). If the mixture is cool enough to handle after all that mixing, proceed to step 4; if it’s not then set it in the fridge till it’s safe to work with

It’s play time! Take small amounts of the peanut butter mixture and pat it onto the Cheerio pumpkins till the Cheerios are fully coated, then use the edge of a rubber scraper to make lines in each pumpkin. Finally press one green jelly bean in the top of the pumpkin for a stem. All done!

Keep covered in the refrigerator for storage; chill for at least one hour before servin